I’ve just come back from Leadership Camp where I spent 4 amazing days on the Morning Star with a great team. It was a wonderful experience of parea (fellowship), laughter and adventure – in my opinion the best combination :o) There were 16 people onboard including Alex our skipper, so it should have been quite close quarters but it didn’t feel like it. During our traveling to two islands, we had sessions where we discussed leadership and what it means. The main thing that I learned during this camp is that anybody who influences somebody else is a leader. I have never viewed influence as leadership before and that was an interesting revelation. Once we start influencing somebody we are leading them down a specific path, which is our path and hence we become leaders as the path is familiar to us. So potentially we are all leaders as we all influence others at some level. We can influence people by words or by actions. One of my favorite quotes is by St. Francis of Assisi, “Preach the gospel, if necessary use words.” Here he is talking about leading by actions. I believe that as Christians we need to be extra careful because people are watching us all the time. Our every word and action is being analyzed by people around us because they hold us to a higher standard. All this to say that just by being who you are, living and breathing, can influence somebody. So my challenge to you, dear reader, is to be careful because in your day-to-day lives you are influencing people around you, knowingly or unknowingly, and hence you are being a leader whether you want to or not. It’s an interesting way to look at it and a different perspective on leadership but that was the thing that stood out the most to me. By being who I am, I’m leading people which is cool and scary all at the same time.
Submitted by Janet Sewell
